Amazon eero mesh WiFi review

Finder score: 4.5

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eero was at one time its own networking company before being gobbled up and becoming part of the massive Amazon empire. The eero mesh system as it's sold in Australia isn't the company's fastest or most technically proficient system, but it provides a rock-solid and surprisingly fast mesh system that's very easy to set up. For most consumer needs, that's all you want out of a mesh networking system.

Design

Design

• Very plain node design
• USB-C power
• Dual Ethernet ports on every node

• Read more about the Amazon eero mesh WiFi's design

  The Amazon eero mesh sits on the more affordable side of the mesh networking market at the moment, and that lower cost is reflected in the design. Each Amazon eero mesh node is a plain plastic white blob with a single LED light at the top and a silver eero logo on the front. It's not flashy, but then that could be a desirable factor for those who need to place nodes in open areas because it's equally not very distracting.

  I tested with a three-node system, and I was pleased to note that the Amazon eero mesh uses USB-C for charging. Not so much from the potential to use other chargers, but simply because it makes it easy to plug each node in because there's no "wrong" way to put the plugs in. Each plug is also nicely compact, so they'll fit well on most power boards and plug arrangements.

  Lower cost systems tend to skip out on providing Ethernet ports for anything but the primary node – where it's very much needed so you can share your Internet connection around – but here the Amazon eero mesh differs massively.

  Each node has two gigabit Ethernet ports, which means you can pretty easily use them to connect up wired-only devices, or indeed share connectivity around your home or office if you have existing Ethernet cabling running through the walls. This is very uncommon at this price point and extremely welcome.

Installation

Installation

• Simple app-led installation
• Can't configure nodes in dead spots
• No browser interface
• Firmware updates can take time

• Read more about the Amazon eero mesh WiFi's installation

  Using an app to configure your mesh network set-up is nothing new; it's exactly what every other mesh system does to ensure it's as easy as possible. Where the Amazon eero mesh app differs is that it's the only way to configure the system. If you favour a browser-based interface, tough luck because it's not supported.

  That annoyance out of the way, the Amazon eero mesh app does an exceptionally good job of laying out what you need to do and when you need to do it when configuring the eero mesh system. Pictures and animations for adding each eero node are abundant, so even if you've never stared down an Ethernet cable in your life, you're not likely to get lost at any point during the installation. If your experience is anything like mine, the biggest lag point will be when it looks to upgrade the firmware on each node as you add them.

  The Amazon eero mesh app asks you to add each node in turn to ensure optimal placement of each node as you build out your system. It's a smart move to give you the best possible odds of total coverage, although it did introduce a problem in my specific home office setting.

  I've noted in mesh reviews before that my office, which sits at one end of the house in an extension built around a wall that was originally an external brick wall is a Wi-Fi dead zone. My standard set-up for testing three-node systems is to place the third node in the office because it's a great stress test for any mesh system.

  However, the Amazon eero mesh app won't let you configure a node if it thinks it's too far away from other nodes. That was the case for my home office position, with the app suggesting I move it closer to the other nodes.

  Lacking the ability to phase through solid brick walls, that wasn't really a good option, but wanting to keep my testing system as consistent as possible between units, I had to bodge a solution.

  This involved setting up the third node on my dining table, much closer to the other nodes but not near my office and its Wi-Fi killing wall, and then unplugging it and putting it in my home office anyway. As such, I didn't expect massively impressive results within that space, but it meant that it was under the same stresses that every other three-node system tested to date has been.

Performance

Performance

• Lacks Wi-Fi 6
• Maximum 550Mbps throughput
• Despite that, excellent coverage and speed

• Read more about the Amazon eero mesh WiFi's performance

  At a technical level, the Amazon eero mesh certainly isn't cutting edge. It's a Wi-Fi 5 product, so there's no fancy 802.11ax compatibility here, as you can find with other mesh systems. It's only dual band, so the actual signal has to be shared with mesh networking information on your network. Other pricier systems add backhaul bands to keep that configuration information separate.

  The basic eero mesh is also limited to a maximum download throughput of 550Mbps, so if you are lucky enough to be sitting on a gigabit NBN connection, you won't be able to push all of it through the basic Amazon eero mesh system.

  Amazon does sell a Wi-Fi 6 based unit, the Amazon eero mesh Plus overseas, but it's not officially available here in Australia. What we get is the lower cost, lower spec unit instead.

  Given the limitations I was introducing to the eero mesh by deliberately stressing it, and by its own technical limitations, I wasn't expecting much in the way of overall performance.

  I was very pleasantly surprised with the test results that I was able to get from the Amazon eero mesh system in my home environment.

  As always, Wi-Fi interference reasons can vary massively depending on your environment. I live in a five-bedroom Sydney suburban house with, as previously noted, an extension where my home office sits that creates a very solid Wi-Fi "dead zone" in it.

  That's a good representation of a dwelling where mesh systems should make a big difference, but it's not your home or office, and your experiences may differ. Still, it's what Finder has used for every mesh test to date to keep comparisons as much in a like-for-like way as feasible.

  As I've done for previous tests, I placed one eero node near my home's NBN 250 HFC connection. A second node was placed in a room nearby and then the final node in my home office once I'd configured it elsewhere.

  First, I measured RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) to check signal sharing and strength using a MacBook Pro 16 in each location. That gives us a picture of signal propagation across the network. Here's how the Amazon eero mesh compared:

  Those figures were way better than I'd expected, with great consistency even from the far position where any Wi-Fi signal tends to falter.

  Signal strength is great if you like technical detail, but people buy mesh networking systems for the purpose of sharing around files and especially Internet connectivity to our ever-expanding range of home and office devices. To test this, I used Finder's Broadband Speed Test through my Aussie Broadband 250/25 HFC NBN connection.

  Here I thinned the field a little, because for earlier mesh tests, I was running on a 100/40 connection since that was what was available to me at the time. Prior to that, it was a 115/5-at-best Telstra HFC connection. Boiling it down to just the NBN connections, I had to convert the speeds achieved relative to the maximum available on the line at that time to a percentage.

  Because of NBN Co's current 40% CVC boost due to the coronavirus pandemic, my line has been running at over its stated download capacity, so I first took a cabled Ethernet test to get a baseline kind of figure for downloads, which sat at 265/20 on average. I then tested the Amazon eero mesh in my near, mid and far positions, averaged out its figures as a percentage of the total to compare. Here's how the Amazon eero mesh compares:

  The Amazon eero mesh genuinely surprised me because, at a technical level, it's definitely below the likes of Google mesh or similar higher priced systems that utilise better Wi-Fi technology and faster total peak rates. However, in real-world use, the Amazon eero mesh balances its network load exceptionally well, especially given its asking price.

  It did dip in terms of upload speeds during the test period, and that may relate to its dual-band nature and the way it prioritises the flow of data. If you do a lot of uploading – for video streaming purposes, for example – this might be an issue, but for most users, downloads always overwhelm uploads anyway.

  One feature that you'd somewhat expect on the Amazon eero mesh would be Alexa compatibility, given that it's a key selling point of rival Google mesh. To date, though, Amazon has resisted the urge to build in microphones and speakers into the Amazon eero mesh system, so if that's an important consideration for you, you'll need to look elsewhere. Interestingly on this score, it is compatible with Apple's HomeKit if you're already wired up for your smart home that way.

Should you buy the Amazon eero mesh WiFi?

The Amazon eero mesh system, like most mesh systems, isn't "cheap" by router standards, but it's certainly on the lower price scale for mesh systems. That's reflected in some of its technical limitations, but not in its real-world performance, which is well above what I've seen to date for dual-band Wi-Fi 5 systems. Its exceptional throughput in that category makes the Amazon eero mesh system an easy recommendation.

Pricing and availability

Amazon sells the Amazon eero mesh system in a three-pack as tested for $429. Individual eero mesh points are available for $199 each, and at the time of writing, Amazon was selling two of them for $299 if that would meet your needs.

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Specifications

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